News highlights for March 78, 2011

CisionPoint news monitoring provides this small sampling of the university's daily news coverage. Click headline to read full text via Cision or link directly to the online article where available. For questions or comments about this service, or to add or delete a name from the mailing list, please contact Gerry Everding.

The New York Times

He may be bound, but this Prometheus still manages to rock
03/08/2011

For the playwright Steven Sater the idea of having one’s life altered by flames is intensely personal. When Sater was an undergraduate at Washington University in St. Louis, his apartment caught fire and engulfed his bedroom; he jumped out of his third-story window, sustaining burns over much of his body and severely injuring his spine. While convalescing he taught himself ancient Greek, turning pages with his teeth while immobilized. He has a new rock musical opening at a theater in Cambridge, Mass.
 Link to Article

The Miami Herald

Unexpected advice from top dietitians
03/08/2011

Asked for some “unexpected” advice on healthy eating, Connie Diekman, director of nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis, said “The perception that all processed foods are bad is wrong. Frozen vegetables, whole oats and whole wheat bread are processed and easy sources of essential nutrients.” Freezing just adds convenience. Don’t demonize all food processing without first reading the nutrition facts label, she said. 
Link to Article

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Incisors in the heartland
03/08/2011

In 1958, the Greater St. Louis Citizens Committee for Nuclear Information, which including scientists from Washington University, commenced a study of strontium 90 patterns in baby teeth sent in by donors across the country. In 2001, Washington University professors discovered 85,000 more baby teeth that were not used in the original study. These teeth are now being used in current studies of health concerns from radioactive fallout. Link to Article

KLRT-TV
 (Little Rock, AR)
College students build Habitat home
03/07/2011

This week, about 45 college students are spending their spring break building a Habitat for Humanity home in Saline County near Little Rock, Ark. For these kids, it’s the best possible way to spend the break from school. This week, students are visiting from the University of Connecticut. Next week, students from Washington University St. Louis will be here to help out. Link to Broadcast

KPLR-TV
(St. Louis, MO)
William Gass’s star shines in the Delmar Loop
03/07/2011

Noted-WUSTL author Williiam Gass is profiled as part of a series on people behind the stars on the Delmar Loop’s Walk of Fame. Gass earned a doctoral degree in philosophy and began his career in teaching. Soon he was publishing short stories and essays and gaining a reputation as a gifted fiction writer. Gass taught at Purdue for 16 years before coming to Washington University in 1969. Link to Broadcast

St. Louis Beacon

U.S.-U.K. ties will help both prosper in new global era, British diplomat says
3/5/2011

In a recent talk at Washington University, Sir Nigel Sheinwald, British ambassador to the United States, said that the U.S.-U.K. partnership had given security and prosperity to both countries and that it would continue to do so despite the emergence of global powers like India and China. Washington University Chancellor Mark Wrighton said he hoped the two countries would continue building their relationships with each other, “and in particular between St. Louis and London.” Link to Article

KSDK-TV News (St. Louis)

Food program keeps tons of waste out of local landfills
3/8/2011

About 30-50 local companies, including Washington University’s campus food services vendor Bon Appetit, are participating in a recycling program that composts about 100 plus tons of food waste each week. “At this location we feed about 8000 people a day,” explains Gary Suarez, an executive chef for Bon Appetit at Washington University. The good news is that food waste from the WUSTL eatery no longer goes into a landfill. In fact, some of that waste comes back to the university in the form of compost used to keep campus flowerbeds beautiful. Link to Article / Online video

University City Patch

Missouri Baptist University to offer new pre-nursing major
03/08/2011

Missouri Baptist University has joined forces with the Goldfarb School of Nursing at Barnes Jewish College to offer a new pre-nursing major for undergraduates at the university. Students in the program will spend two years at MBU and then transfer to Goldfarb for two years of nursing classes to finish a bachelor of science degree in nursing. Goldfarb’s main campus is on the grounds of Washington University Medical Center. Link to Article

STLtoday.com

St. Louis County to run anti-smoking ads, target loopholes
03/08/2011

St. Louis County health officials plan to spend $7.6 million in federal stimulus money on a public anti-smoking campaign partly designed to rally support for strengthening the county’s two-month-old smoking ban, including $2 million for a St. Louis public relations firm to develop an advertising and public education campaign The grant also will pay the Center for Tobacco Policy Research of Washington University and the St. Louis University Public Health School to evaluate the project and identify best practices. Link to Article

St. Louis Magazine

Jim McKelvey has altered the way money changes hands. Now what?
03/07/2011

Jim McKelvey, founder of a St. Louis area glass-blowing studio and partner in a multi-million dollar credit card reader technology firm, discusses his time as an art and engineering student at Washington University in St. Louis. In December, McKelvey and his company sued Robert Morley Jr., an engineering professor at Washington University who did some work on the card reader. McKelvey claims he was left off of a patent that Morley filed for some of the reader’s technology. Link to Article


News in Higher Education

AOL | Daily Finance

Why most colleges should give up need-blind admissions
03/08/2011

The idea of need-blind admissions is noble: Offering qualified applicants admission to a university, regardless of their financial circumstances. But in too many cases, need-blind admissions lead to Catch-22s for many of the students they are intended to benefit: Those young scholars are accepted to their dream schools, but under circumstances that would make it financial suicide for them to attend. Link to Article



Bloomberg

State schools may cite crises to cut professors, Moody’s says
03/07/2011

State universities may take the rare step of declaring a fiscal crisis in order to fire tenured faculty members, according to Moody’s Investors Service. Private colleges are less likely to take similar steps to fire tenured faculty because it may harm their reputations and fundraising, according to the report. Link to Article

USA Today

Colleges see risk to easing pot bans

03/07/2011

As legislatures nationwide debate whether to legalize medical marijuana, colleges and universities in states where laws have been adopted say their campuses will remain drug-free. The reason: Marijuana use and possession violates federal law, and colleges don’t want to risk losing federal funding. Link to Article

Chicago Tribune

New clout attempt reported at U. of I.
03/07/2011

When a University of Illinois student was denied admission to a dual-degree program last fall, her parents turned to their state legislator for help and sparked a series of events reminiscent of the admissions scandal that rocked the state’s flagship campus in 2009. Link to Article

For additional higher education news (subscription may be required):
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Inside Higher Ed
University Business

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